Friday, July 22, 2016

Fight the 40 Interview with Micah Roberts of Public
Opinion Strategies

Survey Finds Public Believes 40% Tax
Will Bring Bad Consequences

To get a better idea of public attitudes toward the 40% tax on health
plans, the American Benefits Council earlier this year hired a polling firm,
Public Opinion Strategies (POS), to survey what people know about the tax and
how they respond to various facts and claims about it. The firm conducted a
nationwide survey of 1,200 registered voters from Jan. 29 to Feb. 3, and also
assembled focus groups on the topic. This month we spoke with Micah Roberts, a
vice president of POS, about the survey’s findings.

Roberts said the poll results should be understood in terms of the “bad
environment” nationally for the Affordable Care Act, and people’s relatively
gloomy sense of their own position. “Things are not going in the right direction
for most people in terms of where the country’s headed,” Roberts said. “People
don’t really like the health reform law, they’re feeling pretty bad about
Congress, and they don’t feel too great about their economic situation. The
‘right direction/wrong track’ trend line is now into the 70s for ‘wrong track,’
and it was only 63 when we did the survey – so we’re into a downward spiral in
terms of public attitudes about the direction of the country.” The focus groups
also showed “a general sense of being lost on everything that’s happening with
health reform,” Roberts said. “People don’t understand how it works, why it’s
happening, why their premiums are skyrocketing and why their options are being
limited.”

Roberts said the survey showed a low awareness of the so-called
Cadillac tax. “Just 30% of people were aware of the tax, and that was actually
higher among Republicans and lower among Democrats and independents. So there’s
an intensity factor around this issue, and it’s centered on the negative side,”
he said. “We found that 48% of voters say they would support repeal, while just
20% say they support implementing the Cadillac tax, and 38% don’t know enough
to have an opinion… It was a very high number for repeal, and 40% of those said
they strongly support repeal, compared to only 8% who said they strongly
support implementing the tax – that was a stunning 5-to-1 differential in
intensity, favoring support for repeal.”

Fearing the Worst. The survey found that when people were
presented with potential positive and negative consequences of the 40% tax,
they tended to believe the worst. “We found that all the things that could be
the worst outcomes – cost increases for them personally; fewer choices in the
marketplace; fewer employers offering health care; more people going without
health insurance – those are all among the most likely things people said would
happen if the tax were implemented,” Roberts said. Conversely, they rated the
more positive possible outcomes as being the least likely to happen. Roberts
said 70% of respondents agreed with the statement, “The Cadillac tax should be
repealed because it won’t bring in $70 billion as expected, employers will drop
or reduce health benefits to avoid paying the tax, and proponents are actually
wrong when they assume employers will raise workers’ taxable wages to make up
for the reductions in their benefits.” And after hearing arguments for and
against the 40% tax, a 2-to-1 ratio of respondents said they would be more
likely to support re-electing their member of Congress if they voted to repeal
the tax.

Roberts’ firm also tested how people responded to various messages
about the tax. “The most effective messaging on the pro-repeal side is that the
tax will force businesses to provide health plans with fewer benefits and higher
deductibles. Seventy percent of people thought that was a convincing reason to
repeal the tax,” Roberts said. “The second-most effective message for repeal
was a statement that said, ‘175 million Americans get insurance through their
jobs, and employers should not be penalized for offering health benefits they
believe their employees deserve and want.’ That was a convincing reason for 76%
of the people we surveyed. It speaks to the reality, which is that people who
are gaining access through their employer to health care really don’t want to
have that system undercut by the ACA.”

Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Washington, D.C. – The Alliance to Fight the 40 today
announced that Congressional support for repeal of the “Cadillac Tax” exceeded
300 members of the House of Representatives who have signed on to legislation
to fully repeal the tax. The number of cosponsors signifies that nearly 70% of
members in the House support the effort to repeal the “Cadillac Tax.”

“The
growing number of cosponsors reflects the work of the Alliance members in their
efforts to reach out to Congress to highlight the devastating effects of the
‘Cadillac Tax’ on the health coverage of working Americans,” said James A. Klein, President of the American
Benefits Council. “We applaud the newest cosponsors for joining more than 300
of their colleagues to take a stand against the ‘Cadillac Tax.’It further illustrates the overwhelming support
to repeal this onerous tax.”

“This tax
does not just affect high value plans. It will hit workers, retirees and
families with ordinary coverage who have the misfortune to suffer catastrophic
health events or have chronic conditions that are expensive to treat,”
continued Klein. “We thank all the House members who recognize the harmful
effects of this tax and are working to protect the benefits of 175 million
workers.”

“Middle-class
families depend on employer health benefits, a crucial supplement to mom and dad’s
salaries, to make ends meet,” said Congressman Frank Guinta (R-NH).“A 40-percent tax
on their insurance plans would be devastating to Granite Staters’ household
finances, not to mention physical wellbeing. Three hundred cosponsors of
legislation to permanently ax the tax is a milestone. I’m proud to have
introduced the first standalone bill. One way or another, the ‘Cadillac Tax’
will meet its end.”

“This is
one more important mile-stone on the path to an ultimate repeal of the
‘Cadillac Tax’,” said Congressman Joe Courtney
(D-CT). “Passage of a two-year delay last December was an important
development, but we need a permanent repeal of the 40% excise tax on health
plans in order to ensure that middle-class health benefits are protected. I
look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues in Congress, the
Administration, and those outside experts in the future to get this over the
finish line.”

The
“Cadillac Tax” is a 40% tax on the cost of employer-sponsored health coverage
that exceeds certain benefit thresholds – initially, $10,800 for self-only
coverage and $29,100 for family coverage in 2020.More than just premiums are counted when
determining the “cost” of the plan.The
cost of wellness programs, on-site clinics and other plan features designed to
reduce plan expenses are also included, so that ultimately virtually everyone
in an employer-sponsored plan will be affected.

The two
bills in the House are H.R. 879 introduced by Rep. Frank Guinta (R-NH) and H.R.
2050 introduced by Rep. Joe Courtney (D-CT). There are 18 members of Congress
who have signed on to both bills. Last year 90 members of the U.S. Senate voted
to permanently repeal the tax.

The Alliance to Fight the 40is a broad-based coalition
comprised of public and private sector employer organizations, patient
advocates, businesses, unions, and other stakeholders that support
employer-sponsored health coverage. This coverage is the backbone of our health
care system and protects over 175 million Americans across the United States.
The Alliance seeks to repeal the 40% tax on employee health benefits to ensure
that employer-sponsored coverage remains an effective and affordable option for
working Americans and their families.

Thursday, July 7, 2016

ICYMI: Business Insurance Article, “A desire to see the Cadillac
tax parked”

A
July 3rd Business Insurance article, “A desire to seethe Cadillac tax parked,” highlights the need to repeal the “Cadillac
Tax.”Philia Swam, a health, wellness,
benefits group manager at LafargeHolcim U.S. in Chicago explains that employers
have already been instituting initiatives to improve employees’ health and
reduce health plan costs.

Excerpts from the article:

If there is one change Philia Swam would like federal lawmakers to make in the 2010 health care reform law, it would be repealing the Affordable Care Act's “Cadillac Tax.”

“We made proactive changes a long time ago without facing tax implications by focusing on changing health behavior,” she said, referring to several company initiatives, such as wellness programs, intended to improve employees' health and reduce increases in health plan costs.

“For employers, the law has significantly increased their administrative burdens,” Ms. Swam said.

“New taxes, fees, more reporting to the government has complicated matters,” she said. “In addition, to managing health plan costs and the health of employees and their dependents, we now have to perform so many administrative tasks that we didn't have to do before.”

The Alliance to
Fight the 40
is a broad-based coalition comprised of public and private sector employer
organizations, consumer groups, patient advocates, unions, health care
companies, businesses and other stakeholders that support employer-sponsored
health coverage. This coverage is the backbone of our health care system and
protects over 175 million Americans across the United States. The Alliance
seeks to repeal the 40% tax on employee health benefits to ensure that
employer-sponsored coverage remains an effective and affordable option for
working Americans and their families.